Ahmad Najib bin Aris

Ahmad Najib bin Aris (1976 – 23 September 2016) was a Malaysian convicted murderer who in 2003 raped and killed Canny Ong, a US-based Malaysian information technology analyst. The crime received widespread media attention in Malaysia. He was sentenced to death in 2005 after being found guilty in a highly publicised trial. Over the next 11 years, he made multiple failed appeals against his sentence and was executed on 23 September 2016, more than 13 years after Ong's murder. Ahmad Najib was also alleged to have committed at least four offences of rape involving four different women, but was never formally charged in connection with those allegations.

Early life Ahmad Najib bin Aris was born and raised in Muar, Malaysia, sometime in 1976. He was the second of four siblings. He studied until Form Three before leaving school to work and support his family. In 1998, he moved to Kuala Lumpur from Muar.

Ahmad Najib later married and had two children, both aged between one and two at the time of his sentencing. He had worked as an aircraft cabin cleaner for Malaysia Airlines since 2000, and lived in Pantai Dalam prior to the murder of Canny Ong. According to those who knew him, Ahmad Najib was regarded as a man of good character and was responsible in his work.

Murder of Canny Ong

Background of the victim

Canny Ong Lay Kian was a Malaysian woman working as an information technology analyst in San Diego, California, United States. She was born on 18 July 1974 to Ong Bee Jeng and Pearly Visvanathan in Ipoh, Perak. Her mother is of Chinese and Indian descent. Ong had a sister named Elsie Ong Lee Cheng . She was described by those who knew her as a dutiful daughter and a considerate person.

Ong moved to the United States to pursue her university studies at Hawaii Pacific University, where she earned a degree in economics. She later moved to Los Angeles to seek employment, where she met her future husband, Brandon Ong . The couple married in 2001. Brandon Ong was born to ethnic Chinese parents who had immigrated from Singapore to the U.S. more than 20 years before Ong's murder. Together, the couple settled in San Diego.

In early 2003, Ong's father, Ong Bee Jeng, was diagnosed with cancer. On 1 June 2003, Ong flew from the United States to Malaysia to visit him. His condition subsequently improved, and Ong was scheduled to return to the United States on 14 June 2003.

Kidnapping, rape and murder On 13 June 2003, the day before Canny Ong was due to return to the United States, she went out for a farewell dinner of steak and fried crabs with her family and close friends at Monde Restaurant, Bangsar Shopping Complex (BSC), Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur.

After the meal, seeing that her mother had become tired, Ong offered to drive her mother back home before she continued with the farewell party, Ong returned to their car in the basement to pick up a parking ticket while her mother and sister waited by the Autopay machine. However, Ong never returned, for she was being abducted by Ahmad Najib bin Aris, who was then 27 years old.

After waiting for 20 minutes, Ong's mother and sister became worried. Ong's sister made two calls to her handphone – the first was not answered while the second was converted to voicemail. Together, they both went to the car park and found their car - a purple Proton Tiara (WFN 6871 plate) - missing. After pleading with the security guards, the mother, the elder sister, Ong's friends, together with the security personnel, viewed the CCTV footages and saw Ong being abducted by an unidentified person (Ahmad Najib). More than an hour after the woman's abduction, a police report was made. and media reports of the case brought shock to the whole of Malaysia. Further police investigations also found that Ahmad Najib was linked to and allegedly committed four carpark rape cases, which led to speculations that Ahmad Najib could be a serial rapist. However, the police officers could not formally charge or investigate Ahmad Najib with these cases as the victims, some of them were married, did not want to let people know about their identities as Ahmad Najib's previous rape victims.

Canny Ong's funeral was held at St Francis Xavier Church on 27 June 2003. Over 500 people from the public attended the funeral to offer their condolences, including some politicians. Ong's family and friends were also present at the funeral.

High Court murder trial and sentence The trial started on 15 September 2003, merely 3 months after Canny Ong's murder. DPP Salehuddin bin Saidin was the prosecutor in charge of the case, and the defence lawyer representing Ahmad Najib was Mohamed Haniff bin Khatri Abdulla, a notable lawyer in Malaysia. If found guilty of murder, under Section 302 of the Malaysian Penal Code, Ahmad Najib faced the mandatory death penalty.

Despite confessing to the crime, Ahmad Najib pleaded not guilty, claiming that he was forced, tortured and coerced by the police to make the confession. Mohamed Haniff also sought to challenge the validity of the confession. In rebuttal, the magistrate who was present when Ahmad Najib was first charged testified that Ahmad Najib seemed relaxed and had no physical injuries on him, and had voluntarily made the confession, which he accepted at the preliminary hearing (at that time, Ahmad Najib was unrepresented). The lawyer even brought up a theory that other people could be responsible for the murder and rape. He brought up the finances of Ong's family, and the disappearance of the ring Ong wore at the time of her disappearance. The cement-filled tyres were heavy. The lawyer asked whether it would need much strength to move them. On the stand, the police officer agreed that it would but refused to agree with the lawyer that more than one person could be involved.

Furthermore, Mohamed Haniff sought to undermine the victim's dignity, saying that Ong could have consented to having sex with Ahmad Najib, and the move of which Ahmad Najib tied the cloth around Ong's neck was part of a sexual act performed by couples during masturbation (more commonly by males), and asked if the death could be of an accidental and consensual "sexual asphyxia". When he put this theory to the forensic pathologist Dr Kasinathan Nadesan, he said he could not completely exclude this possibility but he said such sexual acts usually do not occur in a car, not on the road side or wayside, but in places away from the public eye. Dr Kasinathan had earlier testified that death was caused by strangulation and even said that he could not dismiss that the cause of Ong's death was possibly due to the massive bleeding caused by a sharp weapon. The pathologist earlier also testified that the only area not charred by fire was the skin under the ligature tied around Ong's neck, which demonstrated how brutally tight the cloth was tied around the neck. The prosecution, in rebuttal, argued that the defence had not raise a reasonable doubt over the case against Ahmad Najib, and had been relying on bare denials, which should not be a defence. They said the defence's attempts to show that someone else had committed the crime by impersonating Ahmad Najib "did not make any sense".

In August 2004, when the High Court determined that the prosecution had made out a prima facie case against him, Ahmad Najib was called to give his defence. After discussing with his six defence lawyers, he chose to remain silent, much to the shock of the public and the court. Under the law, if a person chooses to remain silent, the judge would have to convict the defendant but do nothing else. However, the lawyer Mohamed Haniff argued that the court should have an option of convicting his client or re-evaluate the evidence and submissions from the prosecution before deciding the verdict. He also said that Ahmad Najib's decision to remain silent was not a move to indicate to the judge that the judge's decision to convict him is correct, and he reiterated that if so, then the right to remain silent is not a legal option under the law. In return, DPP Salehuddin argued that the defence had not rebutted the prosecution's case and did not call any other witnesses to testify on their behalf. It was decreed that in the law, DPP Salehuddin said, if the prosecution's case was left unrebutted, and the accused chose to remain silent, the accused ought to be found guilty of the charges he was tried for in court.

On 23 February 2005, after a trial lasting 52 days, the Shah Alam High Court found Ahmad Najib guilty of murder and rape. The judge said that the evidence against Ahmad Najib was overpowering and the prosecution had proven beyond a reasonable doubt that Ahmad Najib had indeed murdered and raped Canny Ong. Consequently, for murdering Canny Ong, Ahmad Najib was sentenced to death. Additionally, for raping Canny Ong, the High Court judge Muhammad Ideres sentenced Ahmad Najib to 20 years' imprisonment, the maximum sentence under Malaysian law for rape, along with 10 strokes of the cane.

Ahmad Najib told reporters that he accepted the court's decision, but he indicated that he will appeal against the conviction and sentence.

Later on, Ahmad Najib appealed to the Federal Court of Malaysia, which was the highest court of Malaysia, and the appeal was heard before a five-person bench, composed of Chief Judge of Malaya Datuk Arifin Zakaria and four Federal Court Justices, Datuk Nik Hashim Nik Ab Rahman, Datuk S. Augustine Paul, Datuk Hashim Yusoff and Datuk Zulkefli Ahmad Makinuddin, but the Federal Court also rejected his appeal in March 2009, which effectively finalized Ahmad Najib's death sentence and his other sentence of 20 years' imprisonment and 10 strokes of the cane. Ahmad Najib later unsuccessfully appealed for clemency from the Sultan of Selangor.

On 23 September 2016, more than 13 years after the murder of Canny Ong, 40-year-old Ahmad Najib bin Aris was executed by hanging in Kajang Prison. His body was returned to his family and later laid buried at the Sungai Kantan Muslim cemetery in Kajang.

Ahmad Najib's lawyer described him as a "good Muslim" while on death row, and prison officers said that Ahmad Najib had often led other inmates in prayer and taught them about religion. The lawyer added that he was a better person than many people outside, at least during the time of his imprisonment before his execution.

Aftermath Sometime after the conclusion of the case, a crime documentary was made to re-enact the case of Canny Ong, and also narrates the facts of the case and the court proceedings against Ong's rapist-killer Ahmad Najib. Ong's family, acquaintances, and the police officers and legal representatives associated with the case appeared on-screen to be interviewed.